The
grains industry, Australia’s largest crop based industry, is
sensitive to the timing of frosts, sowing

rains
and rain in spring. In addition, cumulative temperature impacts may
be important, as well as

increases
in wind speed.

Dairy
cattle

The
dairy industry is vulnerable to climate change, especially because of
the sensitivity of dairy

cattle
to heat stress (high temperature coupled with high humidity).

Sheep
and beef cattle

The
timing and seasonal patterns of rainfall are important for pasture
based livestock industries.

The
extensive beef production industry has learned to cope with
regionally variable rainfall; it is

more
adaptable than many rural industries. For the sheep industry, cold
events (wind, rain, and low

temperature
in combination) are a common risk for recently shorn and new born
animals.

Horticulture

Hail
storms and frosts are major climatic risks for the fruit industry.

For
apples and pears, the timing of rainfall is important; in dry
conditions the availability of irrigation water is crucial. Higher
night temperatures can be a problem for some late harvested varieties
of fruit.

Viticulture

For
the viticulture industry, the timing of rainfall is critical. Late
summer rainfall can lead to splitting,

ringing,
disease exposure and rot. Generally wet summer conditions can lead to
fungal and bacterial

infection
from the soil. Frosts at bud burst and fl owering can also devastate
yields.

warming
over the past two decades has already had real effects on global
food supply Rising temperatures between 1981 and 2002 caused aloss
in production of wheat, corn and barley that amounted in effect to
some 40 million tons a year - equivalent to annual losses of some
£2.6bn.

six
of the most widely grown crops in the world - wheat, rice, maize,
soybeans, barley and sorghum. Production of these crops accounts for
more than 40 per cent of the land in the world used for crops, 55
per cent of the non-meat calories in food and more than 70 per cent
of animal feed

cereal
crops are suffering from lower yields during a time when
agricultural technology, including the use of chemical fertilisers
and pesticides, has became more intensive. the observed fall in
cereal yields could be clearly linked with increased temperatures
between 1980 and 2002 - around the world during a period when
average temperatures rose by about 0.7C although the rise was even
higher in certain crop-growing regions of the world. David Lobell
of America's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California,